Updated 27 December 2020
New comment:
Hello, my name is Michele Becchi, I was researching about WWII planes shot down over my province (Reggio Emilia, north Italy). I collected some informations from an eyewitness, he was at the local cinema when the sirens gave the alarm signal.
…All the spectators ran out just in time to see the German flak around the Sorbolo bridge open fire. Suddenly a trail of fire was seen crossing the sky on the Reggio’s side of the Enza river. The Germans suddenly went bad and forced everyone to clear out. The next day I went to look around the place where the small plane crashed, an engine lay a short distance from the burnt remains. soon the rumor spread that one of the two aviators had died and the other had been captured. The remains of the plane were taken away by the Germans.
There were more updates before…
This is an update of an update about the navigator.
Good morning Pierre,
I thought it appropriate for today to email the attached picture to you, which brings home the reality of that war even to those such as me who of course have no direct experience of it.
Regards,
Richard
This was the first update…
After the war my father joined the BBC and worked for them till 1969. He was involved in the Nuremberg trials in Germany but as you will know most of the people who survived the war rarely spoke about their experiences of that time. He was briefly posted to Germany working for the BBC overseas network back in 1951. My father married my mother in 1950 and my twin sister and I were born in 1951. My younger sister was born in 1954. My father and the family spent 3 years in Sydney Australia on an exchange with the BBC and the Australian broadcasting corporation from 1956 to 1959 when we returned to Britain. We eventually moved to Edgbaston in Birmingham where he became Head of the Midland Region of the BBC until 1969. He then spent 3 years in Singapore as an advisor with the British overseas commission. On his return he was then sent to Tonga for a 2 year stint. He had become a specialist in multilingual broadcasting. On his return to Britain he took up simultaneous translation for visiting Germans and also translated german technical papers. Of course he was fluent in German and spoke it like a native! Sadly he developed Motor Neurone Disease and died in 1990. He was still working on translations and was teaching himself Isaiah and Chinese. He was fluent in German, French and Italian as well as having a working knowledge of Dutch. He was highly intelligent and did not suffer fools gladly. That is not to say that he was unkind but he had a brilliant wit! He kept in touch with several well known actors who he met during the war.
T
This was the original post…
This blog is all about remembering the Fallen and also those who survived.
Collection Theo Griffiths (courtesy Richard Cooper)
According to my genealogical research, William Herbert Rogers was born on April 8, 1920, in Teignmouth, Devon, England. His father was William Morrott Rogers and his mother was Ellen Elizabeth Passmore (maiden name to be validated). He had one brother Earnest and two sisters Ada Winifred and Nellie (to be validated also).
Mosquito FB Mark VI, serial HJ674, of 23 Squadron, was lost in an intruder mission over Sorbolo in the Province of Parma. The plane took off from Alghero, Sardinia, in the night of February 6,1944. The crew was F/Lt (64901) David Leslie Porter (pilot) RAFVR was taken prisoner and F/O (147669) William Herbert ROGERS (navigator) RAFVR – was killed.
F/Lt David Leslie Porter survived and became a prisoner of war. He was taken to Stalag Luft 3 according to my research. His navigator is buried in the Milan War Cemetery.
William Herbert Rogers is remembered on this Website.
Readers have contributed to this blog since 2010 when it was first created. RAF 23 Squadron was unknown to me as well as the pilots and navigators. Little by little my knowledge grew with each comment. Since 2010 there were more than 1,000 comments made.
This is post No. 420 which follows post No. 419.
Someday someone will probably comment on William Herbert Rogers or David Leslie Porter who survived the war. If this happens, my interest about 23 Squadron will be rekindled once more, and I will write another post.
This blog is all about remembering the Fallen and also those who survived.
William Herbert Rogers and David Leslie Porter are probably on this group picture. I have no way to tell.
A Flight 23 Squadron
10 November 1943
Naples
RAF 23 Squadron 